Jun 28, 2022 | Hiring Resources, Tips
Your IT hiring process, if lengthy, may be preventing you from securing the best staff. Whilst we’ve always recommended working quickly when it comes to recruitment, it’s now more important than ever. The market is like we’ve never seen it before. And we’ve been doing this for well over 20 years.
There’s something in common with the companies who are still able to recruit great IT staff in 2022. Their IT hiring process. Our team share their insights on how to speed up your IT hiring process. We’ve taken best practice and combined it with what’s working in the real world.
Follow our advice and you can ‘recruit someone worth recruiting’.
Start your IT hiring process with a great job spec
Job specs used to simply be a long list of expectations and demands. If yours are still like this, then it’s time for a change! Yes, it’s still important to have a list of desired skills and experience. However, it’s how, and where these are listed in your spec. The best specs when it comes to attracting candidates all follow a similar structure.
Start with details about the company. What is it that makes you attractive to a potential employee? When it comes to IT hiring, candidates are most interested in technology, upcoming projects and more. But don’t forget the bigger picture too. A lot of candidates, particularly generation z are looking for purpose to their roles. A purpose doesn’t have to be saving the planet or ending world hunger. A purpose can be something as simple as making life a little easier for a certain group of people. Think about your company’s purpose and highlight this in your spec. Or failing that, what about your values? If you have clearly defined values, sharing the in a job spec will help you to attract candidates who share the same values.
It’s also key to highlight the benefits in a job spec. Dedicate an entire section to all the benefits on offer for the role. Whether hard or soft benefits, showing them in a spec will again help to attract more candidates.
Getting your job spec right will undoubtably speed up your IT hiring process.
Engage a specialist IT recruiter
We’ve written many times about the benefit of working with a specialist IT recruiter. With a market like it is, it’s not as easy as it used to be to recruit, Job adverts aren’t working as well as they did and it’s a specialist recruiters’ network that the candidates are now coming from. Be sure to choose carefully. But getting it right will most definitely speed up your IT hiring process.
Getting from CV to offer
This is the most crucial part. You need to be able to react quickly to a CV. Don’t want until you have 5-6 CVs to sift through. Doing this will mean that you are likely to lose your element of choice. If you receive a CV from someone who has the skills and experience you need, interview them ASAP! And by ASAP, we really do mean 24 hours if possible. Now that 98% of 1st and 2nd stage interviews are held via Teams or Zoom, it easier than ever to be quick.
Then, should you like the candidate after the 1st interview, get them booked in for the next stage within 2-3 days. Again, this can be remote if it makes things easier. If after that stage, you are wanting to make an offer. Invite the candidate into the office. Again, do this within 24 hours if possible. If this isn’t possible then we strongly advise to get the offer out with 24 hours to start the ball rolling.
How Langley James can help speed up your IT hiring process
We are not ‘yes men or women’. We are here to make sure that you get to meet the best possible IT candidates for your role. We will advise you on the things you need to do to achieve this. We want you to be successful when it comes to hiring in IT and we will do everything possible to help you. Wouldn’t you want to work with an agency like that? Get in touch with our expert team today and experience the difference of working with a true specialist.
Jun 10, 2022 | IT, Tips
The Great Resignation is well and truly here! According to a recent survey conducted by PwC, 18% of workers cited that they are “very or extremely likely” to change jobs within the year. Plus a further 32% saying they were “moderately or slightly” like to move on. So, what’s causing this great revolt? It’s not just driven by pay, despite this being one big reason due to the cost-of-living crisis. In fact, the PwC study also found that 72% of UK workers are planning to ask for a pay rise in the next 12 months. But another important factor is job satisfaction that now scores high on an IT candidates wish list.
So, let’s look at what you can do to survive the great resignation in your company –
Review your salaries
There’s no getting away from the fact that it’s costing more to get to work than ever before. The cost-of-living is increasing at an alarming rate and people are looking for ways to cope. By reviewing your salaries across the board, you may be able to secure more staff. Get your teams together and ask about their concerns about the cost-of-living crisis. Taking a proactive approach in this situation may create more loyalty from your team. Also – acting early may mean that you actually save money. The increases we are experiencing are not likely to go away for a while. In fact, it’s more likely that they will continue to increase. It’s possible that your team will expect a more significant pay rise the later in the year you deal with it. It’s certainly something to consider.
If you are looking for guidance on salaries, we can help. Each month we produce an IT Salary Guide that shows you the latest average salaries for the most popular jobs in IT.
Look at your company culture
Was your company culture affected during lockdown? What steps did you take to ensure that the culture was still attractive to your teams? There have been some significant changes to the way we work together. By speaking to your teams and listening to what they have to say about the culture, you could save yourself having to replace as many people. What does your team want? Don’t assume! There’s no getting away from the fact that creating a culture in the world of hybrid working isn’t an easy task. But getting it right can make all the difference.
Flexibility can help you through the great resignation
Right now, around two-thirds of people are working remotely. This is either on a full-time or part-time basis. But it’s important to remember that offering remote working isn’t essential to a happy IT team. Flexibility is the key. Everyone will have different needs and it’s important to meet these where you can. It may be that you are more flexible with the working hours. This is particularly helpful to staff with children. Allowing later starts, or even giving time off for the school pickup, for additional hours to be completed from home. These things can make a big different to retaining your team. Think about what can work for you.
Are you offering the right rewards?
It’s more than just a strong basic salary that will secure your team. What else are you able to offer? This may be bonus payments of completion of projects. A bonus for achieving KPI’s on a helpdesk. Whatever your business will benefit from, attaching a reward is likely to not only increase productivity but also engagement too. We appreciate that not every company has a bottomless pot to keep paying out to keep their team. But some rewards don’t have to cost you more. You could offer additional holidays, memberships to platforms like PerkBox, or even a monthly social event. Again, the best way to find out what will be best received is by talking to your teams.
Learning and development
This is something our IT consultants are hearing a lot at the moment. Great candidates are considering leaving their current employer due to lack of skill building. Most candidates in IT are passionate about learning new skills. What can you do to help facilitate that? Are there courses that your teams can attend that will benefit your company? Or maybe some on the job training will help? It’s not only a great way to keep your staff engaged, it’s the ideal way to up-skill your team. This could develop into clear career progression plans. Another area that candidates are particularly interested in right now.
Start pooling candidates – no one will be unaffected by the great resignation
Despite your best efforts, it’s unlikely that you will survive without losing any of your team. But this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It can be your opportunity to really think about the skills you want. What personality fits best with your team and company culture? But to prevent too much disruption, it’s important to be prepared. Recruiting the right candidate is taking longer than normal. Finding good candidates can be tough, but that’s not all. Counteroffers are happening more and companies are competing for the same candidates. By working with a specialist IT recruitment agency, you will be able to not only interview candidates quickly, but you’ll also know about their other opportunities and gain insights on how to secure them for your company. Get in touch with our team to see how we can help.
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